Niche sports arrive with a splash

Enthusiasts of specialist sports can now get that adrenaline rush online, on demand, finds Matthew Wall

A monstrous glassy wall of water thunders towards a Tahitian reef, threatening certain death to any who stand in its way. Unbelievably, a minuscule surfer emerges from the spray, cascading across the face of the giant wave as if fleeing for his life. Just as the towering mass of water is about to smash him to smithereens, he slips back over the lip of the wave to safety.

This is extreme surfing, and I’m watching breathtaking television on my computer over a 1.5MB broadband connection. I can pause, forward and rewind the pictures, view scheduled programmes or browse highlights from a range of other adrenaline sports, from base-jumping and speed-skiing to mountain-biking and extreme snowboarding. It’s the kind of imagery you’re unlikely to find on terrestrial television and only sometimes on subscription services.

The website, High.tv, is one of a growing number of niche-sports channels exploiting broadband internet to appeal